Sonia-Modi face-off in Chhattisgarh

Congress chief lambasts Raman Singh over Maoist attacks.

Kondagaon/Kanker (PTI): Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi on Thursday virtually came face-to-face in the poll campaign in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region where they clashed over the Maoists attacks that had wiped out the entire state Congress leadership and over governance.

Sonia Gandhi played an emotional card by reminding people of sacrifices of its leaders killed in the Maoist attack in May and accused Chief Minister Raman Singh of shedding "crocodile tears" over it and failing to tackle naxal violence.

Addressing her first election meeting ahead of the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh on November 11, Gandhi said while her party stood for the legacy of making sacrifices and working for the poor and downtrodden, the BJP made only tall claims and did nothing.

"You all know the security situation in the state. I want to ask all of you here, what kind of government is this? Innocents are being killed in naxal violence.

"This year itself Congress leaders have sacrificed their lives in naxal attacks and we are all very sad about it. We are feeling their loss in a big way. The Chief Minister was forced to admit to his government's failure. But, I want to ask you what is the use of shedding crocodile tears.

On May 25, Naxals attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in Jagdalpur district killing the party's senior leader Mahendra Karma and injuring former Union Minister V C Shukla.

The bodies of PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son were later found in the forests. A former Congress MLA Udya Mudaliyar was also shot dead by the Maoists who attacked the convoy when they were returning from a "Parivartan" rally.

"The Congress has a history of sacrifice, development... and changing lives of the poor and weaker sections and bringing happiness in their lives. We trust people that they will not fall prey to false promises and assurances, but will remember Congress history" Gandhi said.

‘Rahul doesn’t know pain of poverty’

Kanker (PTI): Narendra Modi trained his guns on Sonia Gandhi, saying she should speak up on coal and 2G spectrum scams as he alleged that the Congress was "misleading" the country on issues like development, inflation and employment generation.

Addressing an election rally here soon after Sonia Gandhi's public meeting in Kondagaon, he took a dig at her for saying that Congress believes in "doing work silently rather than speaking" and said the scams in coal block allocation and 2G spectrum were examples in this regard.

The BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate also attacked Rahul Gandhi for his comments that "poverty is a state of mind", saying he was "mocking" at the poor because he does not understand the pain of poverty.

Addressing Gandhi as "Madam", Modi referred to her comments made about two hours earlier that Congress is a party which "does not speak but only does work".

"You are right, madam. You do everything without saying anything... You (Congress government) did the coal scam without saying anything. In the 2G scam also, you did not say anything but did it... Scams took place beneath the earth, on the earth and in the air without you saying anything," he said.

He said UPA had made promises in run up to the 2009 Lok Sabha polls that it will contain inflation within 100 days of coming to power and create one crore jobs every year.

Contending that these promises were not fulfilled, Modi said, "whatever you say, you do not implement. The nation knows this as well... You say madam that you do everything without saying anything. Whatever you promise, you do not fulfill. Give answers on these."

He said the people earlier used to be be-fooled by the "false promises but now people awakened to the reality".